I have been wondering the same thing. Seems pretty strange to me. Why does more quick picks/easy picks sold mean higher chance to win the jackpot? More combinations? What are the stats for dollars/wins per capita? Those are the stats that I would like to see. Doesn't seem to add up sometimes. Also, with 2 repeating numbers from the last draw, seems even more strange.

While you do not need to be a genius, you do need to have a basic understanding of math to grasp why states with higher populations will have a higher number of winners in PB and MM. And then every once in a while you will see Puerto Rico, or a smaller populated state produce a winner.

That's random at work. Because....with 1 in 292+ million odds, all that's left is random. And a lot of luck.

Ignoring Conn. and Tenn. who don't report sales, for the 1/13 drawing the following states had the most sales (there were a total of 614M tickets sold, ignoring Conn and Tenn)

(State, $ amount of sales, number of tickets sold, % of all tickets sold)

CA $179,007,492 89,503,746 15%

TX $109,104,074 54,552,037 9%

NY $101,203,618 50,601,809 8%

FL $100,310,028 50,155,014 8%

PA $57,403,344 28,701,672 5%

NJ $55,573,768 27,786,884 5%

The probability of a particular state having a winner is directly related to the number of tickets sold in that state.

Over sufficiently long periods of time, assuming the proportion of tickets remains the same, it would be expected that CA, TX, NY and FL would have 40% of the winners. Throw in PA and NJ and you would expect those 6 states to generate 50% of the winning tickets.

What state you purchase your ticket in has absolutely no affect on your likelihood of winning.

While you do not need to be a genius, you do need to have a basic understanding of math to grasp why states with higher populations will have a higher number of winners in PB and MM. And then every once in a while you will see Puerto Rico, or a smaller populated state produce a winner.

That's random at work. Because....with 1 in 292+ million odds, all that's left is random. And a lot of luck.

There goes every ticket has the same chance of winning argument. If these lottery's were really honest, you wouldn't consistently see wins happening in the same ol' same ol' states ( or puerto rico ).

Again, if the lottery were really random, you wouldn't consistently see wins happening in the same states ( or puerto rico ).

Some people here need to think beyond what the lottery FAQ page says for excuses, pay attention to their contradictions too.

There goes every ticket has the same chance of winning argument. If these lottery's were really honest, you wouldn't consistently see wins happening in the same ol' same ol' states ( or puerto rico ).

Again, if the lottery were really random, you wouldn't consistently see wins happening in the same states ( or puerto rico ).

Some people here need to think beyond what the lottery FAQ page says for excuses, pay attention to their contradictions too.

Every individual ticket as the same chance of winning

Let's take an example, we have a new lottery and two type of people buy lottery tickets, Blue people and Red people.

If Blue people consistently buy 1 billion lottery tickets and Red people consistently buy 1 lottery ticket would you be surprised to learn that Blue people always win?

Not that I agree that there is anything "consistent" in which state winners come from. They just tend to come from the states that sell the most tickets, which is exactly what would be expected from the probabilities.

How often do you expect to see someone from Vermont with the jackpot when people from Vermont only purchase 0.17% of tickets sold? Over a long period of time you would expect someone from Vermont to win 1 jackpot out of every 588. There are roughly 12 jackpot winners a year so you would expect, over a long period of time, for people from Vermont to average one winning jackpot every 50 years.

That doesn't mean your chances of winning are less if you purchase your ticket in Vermont. Your ticket will be the winner about once every 3 million years regardless of what state you purchase it in. Of course if you blow the bank and buy $2000 tickets a week you would expect to be the winner about once ever 3 thousand years so that's not a real viable strategy either (particularly when you consider you'll have invested $100k/yr for 3000 years at compounded interest rate of 3% would give you a sum of money that would dwarf your jackpot winnings.

Let's take an example, we have a new lottery and two type of people buy lottery tickets, Blue people and Red people.

If Blue people consistently buy 1 billion lottery tickets and Red people consistently buy 1 lottery ticket would you be surprised to learn that Blue people always win?

Not that I agree that there is anything "consistent" in which state winners come from. They just tend to come from the states that sell the most tickets, which is exactly what would be expected from the probabilities.

How often do you expect to see someone from Vermont with the jackpot when people from Vermont only purchase 0.17% of tickets sold? Over a long period of time you would expect someone from Vermont to win 1 jackpot out of every 588. There are roughly 12 jackpot winners a year so you would expect, over a long period of time, for people from Vermont to average one winning jackpot every 50 years.

That doesn't mean your chances of winning are less if you purchase your ticket in Vermont. Your ticket will be the winner about once every 3 million years regardless of what state you purchase it in. Of course if you blow the bank and buy $2000 tickets a week you would expect to be the winner about once ever 3 thousand years so that's not a real viable strategy either (particularly when you consider you'll have invested $100k/yr for 3000 years at compounded interest rate of 3% would give you a sum of money that would dwarf your jackpot winnings.

When you talk about probabilities, the every ticket has the same chance of winning goes up in smoke.

What is really the issue, is that certain states have is an unfair advantage. It also tells me democrat states have a lot of desperate people looking for easy money.

Until people boycott these lottery games, the same places will continue win.

When you talk about probabilities, the every ticket has the same chance of winning goes up in smoke.

What is really the issue, is that certain states have is an unfair advantage. It also tells me democrat states have a lot of desperate people looking for easy money.

Until people boycott these lottery games, the same places will continue win.

Incorrect, every ticket does have exactly the same chance of winning.

One in 292 million

States don't have an unfair advantage as there is no advantage to a particular state winning, they don't have a stake in the outcome.

Places don't win, people do. And each person's ticket has the same chance of winning no matter where it was purchased.

Let me try another example, let's say people couldn't buy unlimited tickets and instead there were 292 million tickets for sale (1 for every possible combination) and all but one of those tickets was sold in Vermont and the other one in California. It is a virtual certainty that the winning ticket will always be sold in Vermont. Does that mean people buying tickets in Vermont have an unfair advantage? Nope, because only 1 out of 292 million of the tickets sold in Vermont will be the winner, exactly the same odds as that single ticket sold in California.

Probabilities don't care whether you place your bet from your roof, the bathtub, California or Uganda. The probabilities of that bet are exactly the same regardless of where it is placed.

For all those saying the chance's are the same for every single ticket that is bought, you need help. I'm guessing you believe everything that the government tells you too? I thought so. I'm also guessing you are either a liberal and/or from a liberal state? Pretty typical. The fact is that not every ticket has the same chances to win. Think about the number generators at the terminals. Do you think enough bad combinations get cycled through in very low powerball sales states to even get close to printing the winner? I for one have bought many quick pick tickets for years and years and never won anything. Then I started picking my own numbers and started winning all the time. If these lotteries are so random, then why am I able to win with picking my own numbers but not quick picks? Everything is not an even chance.